10 year results for active managers: pretty terrible

This was obvious ten years ago.

Buy ETF index funds.  Pay total annual fees of 0.2% or less.

Keep them for life. 

ETFs now have $2 Trillion invested in them.  That should double in size.   PB
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From CNBC.com:

Fewer than 1 in 4 active managers have outperformed market benchmarks over the past 10 years and only about 4 percent of large-cap growth fund pros did so in 2014, according to a sweeping new study released Thursday by S&P Dow Jones Indices.

At a time when the broader market has been on a tear, posting double-digit percentage increases over each of the last three years and with the S&P 500 up about 210 percent from its lows six years ago, stock pickers have lagged well behind.

More than 86 percent of large-cap managers overall lagged basic indexes in 2014, and more than 82 percent fell into the same boat over the past three-, five- and 10-year periods...

Following indexes, which is at the core of passive management, has surged in popularity over the past several years, with the exchange-traded fund industry swelling to more than $2 trillion in total assets.

ETFs trade like stocks but almost all of them follow indexes like the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, or sectors within them...

Indeed, ETFs come with much lower fees than actively managed mutual funds and carry tax advantages while being easier to trade.

With the continued level of underperformance and the other advantages index-based investing has provided, it's a tough hill to climb for active managers.
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Link: http://www.cnbc.com/id/102500216